Hello! How are you doing?
I'm so excited to talk to you about why you should become fluent in English.
Maybe you've thought about why you want to become fluent in English language.
Maybe you haven't thought much about it. Maybe you've just been studying, because it's
something you are required to do or you think you should do, but maybe you haven't thought
much about it. Well, if you have or haven't, either way,
this episode of Go Natural English is going to present some ideas that are probably new,
you probably haven't thought about. And so, I'm going to share with you my reasons
why I think English fluency is the best thing that you can do for yourself.
So, I've made a lot of notes, so I'll be looking over at them while I talk to you.
So, a lot of people talk about why you should become fluent, and I think there are some
basic reasons that you probably already know. I'm going to say these, and you're going to
think, "Duh. Yeah, I know that." So, for example, freedom of communication.
English is the language of the Internet, the language of science, medicine, technology,
travel. You can find out a lot of information in English.
As opposed to, perhaps, if your native language is not as widely used as English.
So also, English can give you a lot of opportunities to travel abroad, to study abroad.
When you travel, you might want to use English to communicate with people who speak other
languages. Maybe English is their native language, maybe
it's not. Did you know that there's more people in the
world that speak English as a second language (or third, or fourth, or fifth) than people
who speak it as their native language. I just think it's a fascinating fact.
So, English is really the language that we use to connect with each other internationally.
So, if you want to travel the world and work abroad, or study abroad, or meet people from
different countries, English is the best way to be able to do that.
I was lucky that I was born into an English-speaking family in an English-speaking country, so
I have English, but I've worked really hard to become fluent in Spanish, Portuguese, I
can speak some French and Japanese, so I know what it's like to learn another language.
Also, English, of course, is really helpful for your career.
Most careers will benefit from speaking English. If you work with international colleagues,
if you have to travel for work, if you have to do research for work, if you're selling
things to people in different countries or doing marketing (I mean I could go on and
on, and on), if you work in tourism of any kind, if you work in a hotel, restaurant,
giving tours or anything like that, really, your career is going to benefit from English.
Think about if you want to go to a conference overseas, you're going to benefit from knowing
English. So, all of these things so far, you're probably
thinking, "Okay, Gabby. I've already thought of that. Really, what's new?"
Well, I'm going to share my not-so-obvious reasons for becoming fluent in English.
And before I do that, I want to talk to you about levels of fluency in English.
Because I think that fluency in English means that you can do what you want to do in English.
So, if you want to order coffee, for example (I just got a coffee myself, so that was the
first thing I thought of). I ordered my coffee in English, because I'm
here in Bangkok actually, and I don't speak enough Thai to order my coffee in Thai.
But I did learn how to say "Hello" and "Thank you".
But anyway, I said, "Could I please have a coffee?"
So, "Could I please have a coffee?" Was that five, six words?
Well, for that moment, I was fluent in English. I did exactly what I wanted to do.
But I wouldn't say that I was speaking advanced English.
I wouldn't say that I mastered English with six words.
So, I want to encourage you to master English fluency, because mastery leads to true freedom.
Mastery leads to true freedom. When you master the English language and you're
able to communicate more complex ideas and express yourself and your opinions in most
or any situation, that will give you freedom. Low fluency, for example, only knowing six
words necessary to order a coffee, will mean that you miss out on a lot in life.
If you're around other English speakers, and they're having a conversation, you're going
to miss out on what they're talking about, you're going to miss out on the meanings.
It happened to me. Ten years ago, I was traveling in Brazil for
the first time, and I knew a lot of Spanish, I was pretty fluent in Spanish, but my Portuguese
was very, very basic. And I pretended that I understood a lot of
conversation, but honestly, I didn't. I barely understood what people were talking
about. So, I knew that I was missing out, and actually,
that motivated me to become more fluent in Portuguese.
So, if you feel like you're missing out on a lot of the English happening around, maybe
on conversations, maybe on TV or in movies, or on the news, that should motivate you to
keep going and to master English fluency. Don't let it stop you, but use it as a fire
to keep learning. So, when you have low fluency level in English,
you're going to misunderstand, you're night think people are talking about one topic,
but they're actually talking about another, or you might think their opinion is one thing,
but it's actually something completely different, so you might miss the point.
Now, this is really dangerous in work situations and social situations too.
For example, if someone's giving you orders that you need to complete or asking you for
a favor, asking you to do something, or if they're sharing their opinion with you, well,
you want to understand their point of view. And if you misunderstand or you pretend to
understand, like I did, you can really get yourself in trouble.
So, you want to work on your fluency so that doesn't happen.
Some people won't be patient with you when you have low fluency level, especially if
they speak your native language, they'll probably just try to switch to your native language
instead of waiting for slow English. This might sound harsh.
I'm a very patient person, I think, but even I would get a little bit impatient if I have
to wait a long time or if I have to ask several times, "I'm sorry, I didn't understand."
So, I just wanted you to know that with low fluency, you're going to lose friends.
I'm sorry it sounds a little bit harsh, but you're going to lose opportunities to talk
to people who may not have the patience. Now, maybe you don't want to talk to those
people anyway, because maybe they're mean or they don't have enough patience, and you
want someone who's nice with a lot of patience. But even nice people, very patient people,
may feel like it's difficult to talk with you if you have a low fluency level, because
it takes more time and effort to understand and to hold a conversation with you.
So, really work on your fluency so that your friends or your future friends will be able
to speak with you with confidence and with good energy going back and forth at a good
pace. Now it's okay if you start out slow, we all
start out slow in a second language, but this should be motivation to keep building your
English skills and to speak at not a fast pace necessarily, but a normal pace, not so
slow that people lose patience. I'm just being honest.
I don't want to be mean, but it's the truth. I don't want to lie to you, I want to be completely
honest and motivate you to get really fluent in English.
Also, if your English is low, if it's a low fluency level, you have a low level of English,
you might feel bad about it. It might lead to a lack of confidence, and
you might feel like you have a lack of options and less independence than if you have a mastery
of English language. So, here at Go Natural English, I primarily
help intermediate English learners reach advanced fluency.
And that's why I think you should really work on advanced fluency, because I see the difference
that it makes for my learners in Go Natural English premium courses.
So, really work on our advanced fluency, because if you're having a low level of fluency, you're
going to be depending on other people to give you information, depending on other people
to be patient with you, depending on other people to break down their message or information
so that there's no misunderstandings. So, when you have a high level of English
fluency, it's going to give you more freedom and more independence, meaning you don't have
to wait for other people or hope that other people will help you.
So, if you want to be an independent person and if you want to help other people, maybe
you have friends who are learning English and their fluency level isn't as high as yours,
well then, your mastery will help other people. And isn't that what we want to do? We want
to help each other. Now, knowledge comes from English.
It comes from being able to research in English, talk to people in English, connect with new
people, network, find out information. English is an excellent tool to do that.
So, of course, you need many things. You need people to talk to you, you need Internet,
you need materials, like books, documentaries, but English is a really big tool to be able
to grow your knowledge and educate yourself. And knowledge equals power.
When you have information, you have the power to make informed decisions.
And that will change your life. So, English is life changing.
Having a high level of fluent English will give you knowledge, power, freedom, independence.
In my book, these are all good things, these are things that I highly value.
Now, when you speak English fluently, you'll be able to speak with anyone else who speaks
English confidently. Now, I know how hard it is in a social situation
to speak a second language. But when you have that fluency level, then
you don't have to worry about "Oh, is my English going off or not?"
You just go out there and start talking to people.
Also, it allows you to be more independent and more helpful to other people who may or
may not speak English as well as you. So, think of English as a tool for independence,
freedom, knowledge and power. English is a tool for unlimited growth.
I've mentioned a few different ways that you can use English to grow and develop your life,
develop personally, professionally. English is not just a tool for your career
or your social life (I mean, those are huge things), but English itself is actually a
work-out for your brain. I don't know if you know, but there's several
articles. I've just read one (I think it was in the
New York Times) that talked about how knowing a second language, learning a second language
actually keeps your brain strong. And so, as you age, you are more likely to
keep your brain healthy if you know a second language.
And, of course, I think you know ... One of my worst nightmares would be not to
have my brain powers, because that really drowns your life.
You want to have your brain power. So, English is a great work-out for your brain.
I believe in working out your body and your brain.
So, as you learn English, it stimulates your brain.
So just that on its own if you never speak English, just learning English, playing with
it, practicing it, will help your brain. But of course, I want you to speak to, because
speaking English will develop your confidence. Being able to express yourself and have other
people understand and like what you're saying, agree with what you're saying will maybe challenge
you and offer some food for thought. This is ...
I think that can develop your confidence, being able to interact with people, communicate,
connect. You can learn from a lot of resources that
are only available in English. I remember one of my students who speaks Arabic
told me that when he was looking for information on-line, for example, in Wikipedia or other
sites, the Arabic information was very small. But the information in English was very big.
So, if you want information, learn English. Not saying it's fair, not saying it's right,
but it's the truth. Now, you can connect with your kind of people
anywhere in the world. So, not only you can use English as a tool
to get information, but you can also use English as a tool to connect with the right people,
people who have similar values as you, people who do the same job or have the same profession
as you. Maybe if you want to learn about a new career,
you can reach out to those people. You can find people who enjoy the same hobbies
as you. I've met a lot of people on-line who enjoy
travel like I do, and we communicate in English. So, I think community is one of the most important
parts of life. Nurturing a community of people that you respect,
admire and love makes your life wonderful and beautiful no matter where you are in the
world. But you need tools to do that, you need to
communicate to do that. And English can help you to find your kind
of people. Especially if you're from a small town or
a small city where you feel like you don't belong, if you feel a little out of place,
use English as a tool to find people like you who understand you.
And trust me, it's a good feeling to be understood. Not only in English, but your personality,
your values, everything. So, one last thing about English that I love
is that my learners have told me time and time again, "Gabby, when I speak English,
I feel like a new person. I can create the personality that I want.
It's like I'm reinventing myself. I can become a new person.
I can turn over a new leaf. I can start from scratch, a blank slate.
And when I speak English, I'm speaking to new people, I'm using new words, new phrases,
different body language." And so, you can choose how to express yourself
in English and what kind of person you want to be in English.
So, if you've ever felt like you want to start over or you want to change something in your
life, English is a great opportunity to do that.
And English, just like it's a tool to find out more information about the world around
us, around you, it's also an excellent tool to share your voice with the world.
I believe that you are unique and awesome, and you have an important story to share with
the world. And I want you to use English to do that.
I don't want you to keep your story inside just for people who speak your language.
I mean, please, use your language to share your story too.
Don't get me wrong, that's great. But English is a great tool, i's a very useful
tool to get your opinion, your voice, your story out into the world.
So please, use is as a tool for that, for your freedom, your independence, for your
knowledge, for your power, to connect with your community, to be confident and to share
your voice with the world. So, those are some reasons why I think that
you should learn English to a very high fluent level.
Not just basic English, not just intermediate English, but advanced English.
If you agree, than please, like, comment, share.
If you disagree, let me know what you think. Subscribe to Go Natural English on YouTube
and the podcast to learn more about English language learning.
Thanks so much for joining me. I'm really honored to be able to speak with
you. And I'm looking forward to talking to you
again soon. And ...
Oh, one last thing I almost forgot. You can come to GoNaturalEnglish.com/7steps
to learn the Go Natural English method for English fluency which is very important for
this episode. And it's a free course of seven videos that
share seven steps to fluency with me at Go Natural English.
Alright, I'll see you there Bye for now.
